The annotated "American Pie"

[yendi]

No, not the movie*. The song by Don McLean. Sure, I've seen plenty of web site explaining the references in one of the greatest songs of all time, but thanks to this link ganked from kradical, I've now seen it annotated in real time. Awesome.



*"And in this scene, the pie that Jim is fucking represents a vagina."

Comments

[jocosa]

Thanks for sharing. I've always loved that song. Will forever be in my top 5. And I learned some new things from the video. Nifty!

[yendi]

It's always in my top 5, as well. A true classic.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

Pretty cool. Not as careful with the anachronisms as one would prefer; as so often happens, some of those images of 60s countercultureness are actually from the early-to-mid 70s.

The biggest lapse is on the line about "the jester on the sidelines in a cast," which was an obvious reference to the motorcycle accident that took Bob Dylan out of circulation for a year and a half between mid-1966 and late 1967. Whoever made this video doesn't seem to have been aware of that.

[yendi]

*nod* kradical made the Dylan observation in his original post; I suspect that whoever made the video used one of the many existing guides, but I know I've seen a few more accurate ones out there (just not in multimedia).

[hinj.livejournal.com]

awesome!

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

It will probably not surprise you to know that I use that every year in my classroom to teach hidden meanings (and to keep the song alive).

[yndy.livejournal.com]

um...

having done a research paper on the symbolism in this song during undergrad school - I can't get past the part where the idiot who did it says "Who was Miss American Pie?... perhaps a beauty queen McLean was dating..."

If you don't know that the name of the plane that went down was "Miss American Pie" you have no business pretending to analyze the song.

despise being a bubble burster, but...

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/amerpie.htm

Most probably it was referencing Don McClean's girlfriend... Miss America. Especially if you by McLean's statements of being his personal look at America from "the day the music died" up till the JFK assassination and 10 years later aftermath.

Re: despise being a bubble burster, but...

[yndy.livejournal.com]

um, from your same snopes link:
"(Another rumor regarding the title, that it was chosen because McLean once dated a Miss America contestant, appears to be equally spurious.)"

yeah read too quick

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

but at least we're all wrong.

I think the song is all about pussy... period. That's it. About a man and his inability to get some, so he drowns himself in whiskey at the local bar and talks about how the whole world sucks ever since Buddy Holly died, and then Kennedy was shot and Dylan disappeared for a year and my dog died and then this girl, she walked out on me, so I went to where the ladies are usually, but man, place was bone dry... man life sucks.

(wink)

Re: yeah read too quick

[yndy.livejournal.com]

lol!

Thus explaining why McLean never truly explained it himself! ;)

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, one of my photography teachers (http://www.edfreeman.com/) produced that track.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

That was well done, thanks for the linkage.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's cool!

When I was a kid, I didn't know about the plane crash and only really knew about The Big Bopper, so when I heard the song, I thought it was about the day Elvis died. My mom thought that was charming and didn't want to burst my bubble. Though, really, there was no bubble to burst...it was just the only musical death I'd heard of at that point in my life.